


Free Space

by soldiermom1973



Series: 1,000 years (A Reconciliation Story) [9]
Category: Mass Effect (Comics), Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect - Various Authors, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: 1000 years, Backstory, F/M, Fluff, Gen, N7 (Mass Effect), N7 month, Normandy - Freeform, free space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 00:03:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21346975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiermom1973/pseuds/soldiermom1973
Summary: ForN7 monthover on tumblr.  The prompt was 'free space', so I thought I'd just write a super quick peek into Allie & Kaidan's early relationship.  Nothing exciting or dramatic, just Allie's realization that she's seriously infatuated with a certain L2 Sentinel...And since it's still NaNo, I'm going for quantity, not quality.  I have proofread it, but not thoroughly, so if you see anything really bad, let me know.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Allie Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard
Series: 1,000 years (A Reconciliation Story) [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1460416
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Free Space

**Author's Note:**

> For [N7 month](https://n7month.tumblr.com/post/188450175349/n7-month-challenge) over on tumblr. The prompt was 'free space', so I thought I'd just write a super quick peek into Allie & Kaidan's early relationship. Nothing exciting or dramatic, just Allie's realization that she's seriously infatuated with a certain L2 Sentinel...
> 
> And since it's still NaNo, I'm going for quantity, not quality. I have proofread it, but not thoroughly, so if you see anything really bad, let me know.

Allie stood in the doorway of the captain's quarters - _her_ quarters now, she supposed. Her head was still reeling from how quickly everything had happened. One minute she was an XO on the newest ship in the Alliance fleet on what was supposed to be a simple shakedown run. A couple of days later, she's become the first human Spectre and charged with bringing down the Council's best agent AND she'd been given command of the Normandy. The last time her head swam like this was when things on Elysium calmed down and she had a chance to really think about what she'd accomplished.

She took a couple tentative steps inside, part of her looking for Anderson's reassuring voice as she looked around at everything. She'd only been in here once or twice before and never really paid attention to what was around her. She felt like she was being nosy if she studied the sparse walls or the layout of the furniture, but now it was _hers_ and she could do whatever she wanted with it. Well, within Alliance regs, anyway.

That thought made her frown. She was a Spectre, but like Udina and Anderson both reminded her, she was still part of the Alliance, too. Allie wondered what she'd do if she were given a mission that was a pure conflict of interest. What if the Alliance gave her orders that completely contradicted ones she was given by the Council? She sighed, hoping each part of her leadership understood there might be times she couldn't do something for that reason, but given her limited interactions with the Council, she doubted they would be understanding of a situation like that at all, should one come up.

“Commander, you ok?”

She spun, startled at the sound of the soft voice behind her. “Shit, Lieutenant, you scared me!” Allie shook her head and chuckled.

“I tried the chime a couple of times, but you didn't respond” Kaidan took a small step backward toward the door. “I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”

“Yeah, I'm good,” she answered, motioning for him to come in. “Just.... I don't know. Just trying not to get overwhelmed with it all, you know?”

“I can imagine,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “First we have a shakedown run that's anything but, we lose Jenkins, we find out about a rogue Spectre and can't do anything about him, then you get made a Spectre and we're ordered to do something about him and you get the Normandy to boot.”

Allie just nodded, her head still spinning from everything that happened. Kaidan studied her for a moment before continuing. “You know, Ash might tell you God doesn't give you any more than you can handle.”

His observation made Allie chuckle. “Would she now?” Allie shook her head. “If I believed in God, I'd probably ask him to not trust me so damn much.. And what about you, Alenko? You the religious type?”

“No, ma'am,” he shook his head. “Not my cup of tea, but I don't judge those who find peace with it. As long as you don't use your religion to be hateful, I don't care what you do.”

“Wise words, Lieutenant. I knew I liked you for a reason.” Allie almost clamped her hands over her mouth the instant the words were spoken. Nothing like openly flirting with your training officer to make things awkward.

“I appreciate that, ma'am.' Kaidan shifted his position and clasped his hands behind his back. Allie couldn't help but notice his face darkened at her words, too. Maybe the infatuation was mutual. Or maybe the lieutenant was afraid of the regs. Allie mentally chastised herself for saying something like that. Before she could apologize, though, Kaidan spoke again.

“You've got this, Commander. The more I talk to you, the more I get to know you, the more I believe no one else will be able to pull this off.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, lieutenant.”

“Any time, ma'am. And if you ever need to vent or get something off your chest, you know where to find me.”

“Noted.”

There was another moment of silence before Kaidan gave her a slight nod and headed for the door. “I'll get out of your hair, Commander. I'm sure you have a ton of paperwork to do.”

“Kaidan...” He paused at the door and she realized it was the first time she called him by his first name. “...thank you for this.” She gave him a soft smile when he glanced back over his shoulder. “I might just take you up on your offer, too.”

“I'd like that.” He returned her smile and left her quarters.

Allie stared at the closed door, alone again with her thoughts and cursed under her breath. The last thing she needed, on top of everything else she was dealing with, was the growing infatuation she had for Kaidan Alenko.

And judging from his reactions during their conversation, the feeling might just be mutual, too.


End file.
